EgyptAir - MSR > Reviews > Bureaucrats and Crooks

Author's product rating:   

Food Quality
Customer Service
Punctuality
Space
Value for Money

Advantages:	Marginally Cheaper than others
Disadvantages:	Bureaucracy, Cairo, Baggage Theft

Recommend to potential buyers:

no

Full review

Flew from London to Nairobi via Cairo in December 1999, returned in January 2000.
The plane itself wasn't bad, the food was acceptable by airline standards (although hardly tasty). The problem is the Cairo exchange and the devotion to bureaucracy of the staff. The outward journey was unremarkable. The hours at Cairo airport were unpleasant - toilets appalling and prices for drinks very high.

The real problems were on the way back. The plane was delayed and we were told that we would have to stay overnight in Cairo - they later changed their mind and we were only in Cairo for an hour or so. At Cairo we discovered that our baggage labels, which should have been attached to the tickets were missing - presumably they were removed by the Cairo station manager who had refused to hand back out tickets while we went to breakfast in Nairobi. We set off for London not knowing whether out luggage would arrive - well it did, but it had been slashed open, presumably in an attempt to see whether there was anything valuable worth stealing. Trying to claim for a refund, we were told we had to supply the baggage labels (missing at Cairo, as we had told them in the claim) but did, after months, finally receive some compensation.

Also, they are nuisances for paperwork. All passports are taken in at Cairo, for no apparent reason, as the staff spend all their time shouting at each other and almost none looking at the documents. My partner, who is Kenyan, was given a particularly hard time, having to answer a lot of questions, and having copies of her papers taken at the booking office in Nairobi, at Nairobi airport, AND at Cairo. At Cairo our papers were eventually handed back only about five minutes before take-off.

Fly with them only if you really can't afford anyone else, and if going through Nairobi don't put any valuables in your cases. I'm surprised I managed to write all this without resorting to a string of expletives!